President Trump Announces ‘Project Freedom’

President Trump on Sunday said an effort to escort ships from countries not involved in the war with Iran safely out of the Strait of Hormuz, dubbed Project Freedom, will begin Monday.

“For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The backlog of traffic in the region has become a humanitarian issue.

The underlying reality that it highlights is that in order to continue to inflict serious economic pain on Iran, we need to successful movement for the rest of the world’s cargo on the Strait. Reuel Marc Gerecht: America’s primary objective, then, must be reopening the strait. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears to understand Hormuz’s importance, saying: “Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway and how much you have to pay them to use it.” What Mr. Rubio may understand but left unstated is that this means that the U.S. is stuck in the Persian Gulf guaranteeing safe passage as long as the Iranian regime lasts. It also means we are on the hook to protect, at a minimum, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from missile and drone attacks against energy and water infrastructure, which may come if the blockade begins to eviscerate the Iranian regime or Mr. Trump starts bombing Persia into darkness…. If the regime doesn’t crack, we could be in a long struggle that will require commitment, patience, and discipline across the U.S. government (Wall Street Journal).

BREAKING: President Trump said the United States will begin to help free neutral foreign ships locked up in the Strait of Hormuz. He called the operation "Project Freedom" and said it will begin Monday morning.

— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 3, 2026

The president announced “Project Freedom” on Truth Social Sunday afternoon: For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business. Again, these are Ships from areas of the World that are not in any way involved with that which is currently taking place in the Middle East. I have told my Representatives to inform them that we will use best efforts to get their Ships and Crews safely out of the Strait. In all cases, they said they will not be returning until the area becomes safe for navigation, and everything else. This process, Project Freedom, will begin Monday morning, Middle East time (Truth).

It’s a bold move with risk exposure as well. David Strom

This is an interesting strategy. It will enable hundreds of ships to leave the area, presumably laden with their cargo, stabilizing the oil market for a time,  without establishing full two-way traffic and normalization…. This is a really bold move, as it would entail, one would assume, US Naval vessels going into dangerous waters with a hostile enemy that has vowed to keep us out. With all the talk of mines, suicide dolphins, and presumably a significant supply of drones and perhaps ship-killer missiles, the risk he is assuming is high (Strom).

Just to be clear, the Straits of Hormuz is not Iran’s. It is an international waterway bordered to the north by Iran and to the south by Oman and the UAE. While Iran may claim significant influence over the region, international law defines it as a waterway with, in part, Omani territorial waters.

This will be an interesting week. Jerusalem Post sums up the latest: US Navy ships reportedly crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday afternoon as US-Iran ceasefire negotiations kicked off in Pakistan, though Iran denied the reports and threatened to attack any unauthorized ships in the strait. Axios, citing a US official, reported that several US Navy ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz. According to the report, the move was not coordinated with the Iranian Navy and was the first time US Navy ships made such a move since the start of the war. According to the Wall Street Journal, three US officials confirmed that two US Navy guided-missile destroyers passed through the strait without issue in what was described as a “freedom-of-navigation mission.” Minutes later, a senior Iranian military official denied the reported crossing of US vessels on Iranian government-owned state television. Iranian media additionally released a warning that any US Military ship will be attacked within 30 minutes if it attempts to cross the Strait. According to State TV, a US vessel in the strait turned back after receiving the warning (Jerusalem Post).